Book holding device



May 1, 1962 F. FROST BOOK HOLDING DEVICE Filed Nov. 27, 1959 R m w W.

FRED FROST ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,031,795 BOOK HOLDING DEVICE Fred Frost, Paonia, Colo. (R0. Box 747, Canon City, Colo.) Filed Nov. 27, 1959, Ser. No. 855,778 1 Claim. (Cl. 45-61) This invention relates to a book holding device and while more particularly designed for holding a music book such as a hymn book in open position on the music rack of a piano or organ, it is not limited to this particular use but will be found useful wherever it is desired to maintain a book volume in an open position for any purpose.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a simple, economical, highly efficient and easily adjustable device which can be quickly and easily adjusted to retain a book of any conventional size in the open position and which can be readily manipulated to hold the book open at any desired page or pages.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of the invention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and efficiency. These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numerals refer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout the description.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the improved book holder illustrating it as would appear on a music rack, the position of an open book therein being indicated in broken line;

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross section taken on the line 22, FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary horizontal section looking downwardly on the line 3-3, FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a similar fragmentary cross section taken on the line 4-4, FIG. 3.

The improved book holder employs a back board 10, to the front of the lower horizontal edge of which, a bottom block 11 is glued or otherwise attached so as to extend throughout the entire width of the back board. A channeled slide strip 13, provided with a guide channel 14, is glued or otherwise secured behind each vertical side edge of the back board so as to extend the entire height of the latter.

A slide board is slidably mounted in the channels 14 of the two guide strips 13 so as to be maintained in parallel position on the back of the back board 10. The slide board 15 has a size and shape substantially conforming to the size and shape of the back board 10. A top block 16 is glued or otherwise secured along the front of the upper horizontal edge of the slide board 15.

Thus, the blocks 11 and 16 can be moved toward and away from each other by simply sliding the slide board 15 in the guide channel 14 behind the back board 10. The slide board is retained in any preset position until manually adjusted by means of a friction pad 17 of felt or rubber or other suitable compressible material. The friction pad 17 is cemented behind the upper horizontal edge of the back board 10 so as to be compressed between the back board and the slide board 15 to provide frictional resistance therebetween.

A lower shaft rod 18 is axially and rotatably mounted in the bottom block 11 so as to extend longitudinally thereof for substantially one half the length of the block 11. The lower shaft rod 18 projects from one extremity of the block, preferably the right extremity, and the projecting extremity is provided with a suitable finger knob 19 by means of which the shaft rod may be manually rotated. Rotation of the shaft rod 18 is frictionally resisted by means of a resilient packing bushing of rubber, felt, or similar material which surrounds the shaft adjacent the extremities thereof and within the block =11 to resist rotation.

A book clamping arm 22 is fixedly mounted on the shaft rod 18 and projects radially and forwardly therefrom, through a clearance slot 23 formed in the block, substantially at the middle of the block 11. The book clamping arm 22 extends over the back board and terminates in an elongated book clamping foot member 24 rigidly mounted in T-shaped relation thereon.

The top block 16 is provided with a similar upper rotatable shaft rod 25 terminating at its outer extremity in a finger knob 25 similar to the knob 19. Rotation of the upper shaft rod 25 is resisted by friction bushings 27 surrounding the shaft adjacent its extremity similar to the construction previously described with reference to lower shaft rod 18.

A second book clamping arm 28 is fixedly mounted on the upper shaft rod 25 and projects over the back board 10 through a clearance slot 29 in the top box 16, similar to the clearance slot 23 previously described, and terminates in a clamping foot member 30 similar to the hook clamping member 24 previously described.

The slide strips 13 are provided with cushioned pads 31 for supporting the book holder on any suitable flat supporting surface. The bottom block 11 is also provided with a cushioned pad 32 for supporting the holder on the music rack of a piano or organ without damage to the latter.

It is believed the use of the device will be apparent from the above. Briefly, an open book such as indicated in broken line at 33 is placed upon the back board It). The two blocks 11 and 16 are then forced toward the book to snugly engage the top and bottom edges of the binding thereof. The shaft rods 18 and 25 are then rotated through the medium of their knobs 19 and 26, respectively, to swing the book clamping feet 24 and 30 against the open pages of the book so as to maintain the latter in the open position. When it is desired to turn a page or pages, the knobs 19 and 26 are simply rotated to lift the clamping feet 24 and 30, the pages are turned, and the knobs rotated to again replace the clamping feet against the newly opened pages.

It can be seen from the above, that the holder will accommodate books of various heights by varying the relative positions of the back board 10 and the slide board 15 and that books of various thicknesses can be accommodated by the adjustable positioning of the clamping feet 24 and 30.

The boards and blocks described may be formed of any suitable material. For instance, the blocks could be formed from wood glued to Masonite or plywood back boards and slide boards. The shaft rods with their clamping arms and feet could be formed from molded plastic.

While a specific form of the improvement has been described and illustrated herein, it is to be understood that the same may be varied within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

A book holding device comprising:

(a) a fiat, rectangular upstanding back board;

(b) vertical guide means on the rear of said back board;

(0) a flat, rectangular slide board retained on the back of said back board by said vertical guide means so 0 that it may be slid vertically of and removed from said'back board;

(d) a bottom block mounted on the front of and along the lower edge of said back board;

(2) a similar. top block mounted on the front of and along the upper edge of said slide board;

(1) a rotatable shaft rod surrounded by and extending longitudinally of each of said blocks;

(g) a book clamping member mounted on and extending from each of said shaft rods through a clearance opening in the surrounding block; and

(h) a finger knob mounted on the extremity of each of said shaft rods for rotating the latter, the two book clamping members being positioned to clamp the top and bottom of an open book against the front face of said back board when said slide board is in position in said vertical guide means and to clamp the bottom of one book to said back board and the bottom of a second book to said slide board when the latter is removed from said back board and inverted.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 498,578 Schmirk May 30, 1893 715,372 Hamersly Dec. 9, 1902 1,888,525 Callaway et a1. Nov. 22, 1932 1,947,053 Mason Feb. 13, 1934 2,014,176 Henderson Sept. 10, 1935 2,570,439 Forca Oct. 9, 195.1 2,536,524 Dussardier Feb. 19, 1952 

